I think the answer is clearly the better QB. Just look around the NFL. Heck, look at the Colts. Sean Mannion is becoming a strength. Not against great teams just yet, but he's a difference maker in these games of equal talent.

A few weeks ago, before the BYU game, I wrote that the Beavers would lose that game because they had a "one step forward, two back" feel to them. Well, now it feels like they're catching on and gelling, and this is where they take two steps forward and one back (i.e. next week vs Stanford).

Kyle Wittingham is a great coach…better than Riley. He'll have Utah ready to go, he'll know how and where to outflank the Beavs, but Mannion's savvy and talent overcome that.

My biggest concern this game is Mike Remmers. He is just brutal. The game should be close, so his boneheaded play could negate some big run/pass plays and marginalize the Beavers' vastly superior offense. Still, at the end of the day, I can't be betting against the left tackle being the difference maker. That is too random. The better QB wins this game.

Hi BN; it’s me again the old and future pending coach. Only four more weeks until I reclaim the job that was undeservedly ripped from me in 1996.

The bandwagon that enthusiastically burst out of Seattle last Saturday night ground to a halt about 45 minutes out of town when it was determined that the 2011 season is indeed officially in the “wait until next year” category. One of the more mathematically inclined on board, with the help of fingers and toes, demonstrated that 2 + 3 = 5. Five wins (best case) equals “wait until next year” again.

The die was cast on this season in the consecutive Februarys of 2007-8 when the recruiting classes amounted to a mishmash of fat-boys and unfulfilled projected wishes.

Since I will be the coach next year I have been analyzing the current roster. I like some of the freshman but I’ve decided to go the JUCO route. I’m not going to bring in a few players to shore up a few weaknesses. I’m going to bring in an entire team. I’ve approached City College of San Francisco and Golden West, out of LA. Good news… they’re interested.

This brand new team combined with my unstoppable offense and generally acknowledged coaching awesomeness will provide a winning season in less than the standard 28 years. I can do it in 10 or 12!

The incentives to an entire JC team transferring to OSU are: They get to see Autzen without buying an expensive and hard to get ticket. Flying to road games versus long bus rides. Unlimited access to indiscriminating OSU coeds.

The negatives are:Their current stadiums are bigger and better than Parker. They play before large enthusiastic crowds. And, of course, it is Corvallis.

So it’s on to Utah for the game of the weak. Who cares…. 3-9, 4-8 or 5-6, what’s the diff? It’s starting to make the 11-5 Stanford game look like a “bring a can of food for admission” type game.

Oh well……. O…S….U!! (wave arms like a spaz until tired)

PS; JackBeav, the last time I checked to ignore means no (zero) responses. I think I counted three after my last post. You can do so much better! Remember.. YOU ARE JACK BEAV!!

JackBeav official team tool to OSU Football est, 1975 all rights reserved.

I am nervous about this game, it sounds like Riley is really worried about their defense and that makes me apprehensive about the game. But I think having back-to-back road games can really bring the team together, nad it seems like we are getting healthy.

The biggest thing will be the OL versus the big, mature Utah DL. If we can run the ball and open up the passing lanes I think we can move the ball. If we keep improving on the Red Zone offense we might be able to score enough to win.

I don’t think they will be able to do a lot against our defense. If its a close game I give them the edge as I fear our Special Teams will falter under the pressure if we need a field goal.

As I understand it, the point is that in this game Utah has the better coach and the Beavs the better QB. Angry is coming down on the better QB side…for this game. Doesn’t mean Mannion is a more significant asset to the program than Riley.

Correct. Utah has a better coach, but the talent on the field is pretty equal. Again, look at the Colts. QB is a big deal, and Utah doesn’t have one. No coach can overcome that. Therefore, IMO, for this specific game the Beavs’ advantage at QB should be enough to win it.

I’m not sure either. I think some Beav fans have a false sense of security with the wins over Arizona and WSU. Those were bad defenses folks. To me this is a real test as to whether the team has really made progress. I think the BYU game was a fail. Now’s a chance to garner something from a disappointing season.

Not nervous about this one at all. Utah doesn’t really have an offense. The Beavers I think may be a little flat offensively to start but I don’t think Utah makes them pay for it. I see Utah’s offense being a struggles. Their QB Hays is not a FBS caliber QB and will struggle. The Utes have also struggled to protect Hays. That’s great for the Beavers with the way Crichton and Wynn get after the QB. Really liked what I saw from Taylor Henry last week, he should make an impact when they bring him in to rush the QB on third down.

I think the Beavers get it rolling offensively in the second half and pull away, thanks to Mannion’s arm.

That depends. Luck is controlling all the pieces at Stanford. That’s why they’re running a lot more this year. Luck has his reads in before he calls the play in the huddle. That dude is certainly a dude.

When it comes to coaches vs. QB, I’ll wait to see what happens with the play calling. If our offense comes out and takes shots like it did last week, then we’ll know they’re putting it in Mannion’s hands also. But it only goes so far. All the morons who thought it was the run that opened up the pass simply ignored that first play from scrimmage. I’m supposing those same people thought our o-line had a good game as well. Neither was true. Mannion threw the D out of the box, and Langsdorf countered with runs when that happened. Yes, there was balance. But the pass set up the run, not the other way around.

So long as Johnson is at C, they need to stop running that C pull. It loses yards unless Agnew cuts it back almost immediately. And it drives me crazy watching Johnson wade into the flats looking like he’s trying to avoid contact.

I agree, they passed to set up the run and the first play set the tone of the game. More please. I would like to see them run some of the Big 5 plays the Packers do with all wideouts. We have some serious talent at receiver…………use them.

See this one pretty close to how Angry does. I think we will have just enough production and get the offensive and defensive contributions we need to come out ahead. I think a key to a Beaver win is Agnew getting 90 or more yards rushing which will require OSU staying patient with the run game and giving Agnew plenty of looks. That will help us with needed balance and lowering the likelihood of turnovers which will be critical for the Beavers to earn back to back W’s.

Remmers may be having a rough senior year but coaches put him at the all important blind side edge QB protector, presumably the best of the two tackles. Didn’t he play right tackle for 3 years before this? Any one proposing a mid-season swap of tackles if that would be an upgrade?

Remmers is just one of those flops that looked to have a lot potential early on (starting as a freshman on the o-line) but for whatever reason never developed into anything better than his freshman year. Pretty inconvenient since the line play is what has absolutely killed us the last two years.

I agree with Angry that the Beavs have a big advantage tomorrow in the QB department. Mannion is fast becoming a superior D1 QB. The Utes, in contrast, don’t have a game-ready D1 QB on their roster.

Lacking a competent QB, the Utah offense probably won’t mount many long drives against OSU. The Utes are more likely to score their points off turnovers or from special teams play that provides the anemic Utah offense with great field position.

It follows that field position will be key for OSU tomorrow. Mannion and Agnew need to avoid turnovers, especially inside OSU’s own 40 yard line. Hekker needs to stay focused and avoid shanks. OSU kick coverage needs to be solid. If the Beavs take care of the ball and win the field position battle, Utah will be hard pressed to score, and OSU should win going away.

Offtopic: OSU Women’s Soccer beating #1 Stanford in Corvallis at halftime 1-0 in front of a standing room only crowd in pouring down rain. Would be great for Oregon St. to beat the nation’s #1 ranked team. 🙂

I’d like to see somethings to try and soften up the middle – a few shovel passes, a quick handoff to a Agnew at fullback a la Quizz against USC, screens, middle screens to TE…then hit them outside with Rodgers, Wheaton, et al.

Utah doesn’t have the offense to consistently threaten a mediocre beaver D, so Lanfsdork/Riley need to call a good game.

I believe the key is jumping out to an early lead and forcing Utah to throw. I believe that they are a lot like ucla in their need to run the ball. If you force either team to play from behind they will lose but can beat you with defense and a pounding run game with a lead. Our run defense is poor and I don’t like the idea of us chasing them all day. I think we win going away if we get an early lead, if we allow them to run and stay in it we will lose. A OSU win will likely include 2 or 3 ints.

Sorry, I didn’t make that clear. This would be a Chris Petersen plug if ever I saw one. I don’t know if it was done on behalf of the university (I use that term loosely), or if it was done on behalf of the coach. But it is a plug nonetheless.

Now that I have referenced Boise and Chris Petersen in the same post, the bots will bring these people to this comment. Will they respond? My guess is not now. But they will respond.

Why does everyone think Utah will score 20+? They have no QB, and our defense has looked pretty solid.

And from what I’ve read(haven’t seen Utah play) their secondary is pretty terribad. So Mannion should be able to pick them apart.

Utah’s run defense is being hyped, but look deeper: Polk shredded them(180+), BYU’s RB had a 4.4 average, USC’s Tyler had a 100+game…I just don’t see a reason to fear them. Every good back they’ve played has been at least solid, and Polk crushed them. Their stats are just padded by terrible teams, or big leads so that the opponent couldn’t run. As such, I expect Agnew to put in a workmanlike 20-25 carries for 100 yards and a score.

Also, the Colts don’t have a QB or a coach. Caldwell is terrible. How Peyton carried that team is beyond me.

Yeah, I felt the Beavers would win 34-13. No way Utah scores 20 with that offense. The Beavers score just say 27 but they should win by double digits. The Beaver are better. The only way I see Utah winning this game is if the Beavers turn it over 3+ times. If Agnew holds onto the ball the Beavers will be fine. I don’t see Mannion making many mistakes to be honest.

Today’s game is like a battle between two ships where the artillery of Ship A has longer range than the artillery of Ship B. The strategy for Ship A is obvious and deadly — stay beyond the range of Ship B’s artillery and fire away at Ship with impunity until Ship B sustains too many hits to stay afloat.

Utah is Ship B. Utah’s offense will not be able to score much — or at all — against OSU so long as the Utes are forced to start each drive 70+ yards from OSU’s end zone. Without a competent QB or an overpowering running game, Utah simply will not be able to convert enough opportunities to sustain a drive of that length.

Making the Utes start drives deep in their own territory — while avoiding turnovers or long kick returns — practically guarantees success for the Beavs today, or so it seems to me.

So what happened to the battle of the trenches theory from last week? Don’t get me wrong, I like this take, but it seems like every other game you’ve said was won or lost by whichever team had the better line.

In today’s game, the Beavs face a D1 team that lacks a D1-level QB. That’s unusual, and it’s a potentially fatal defect.

It remains true that most football games are won and lost in the trenches. But the lack of a competent QB means that Utah comes into this game as a hobbled, wounded animal. If the Beavs take proper advantage of this situation, it won’t be a fair fight, and OSU will be able to win today’s game without dominating the line of scrimmage.

I think it’s a bit overly-nonspecific to say, “The defense is bad.” There are certain aspects that are bad; our safeties haven’t been good, Reynolds gets burned a bit too much, and I’m curious to see our run defense without Masaniai. But our DEs have been awesome, our linebackers are greatly improved(even baddies from last year like RR and Wilson looked better last game), our team speed is pretty good, and Poyer is turning into a superstud.

There are pluses and minuses.

As long as Banker realizes that Utah’s only route to victory is pounding the ball 30 times on us and compensates, this is an easy win. But will Banker realize that?

I’d rather see Agnew carry no more than 18-20 times and share the running with others. Hate to see Langs ride his best horse to death, especially today. Spice up the run game with York, Stevenson, Wheaton, Jenkins and Ward.

OT: I found a blog that accounts for third tier media rights money for a number of schools. Interestingly enough, OSU made over 6 million and outpaced everyone in the pac-10 comfortably. The media package is from 2009-2010, can anyone explain this? We made a significant chunk of change and seem to be doing something that our competitors weren’t. I have said some unkind things about Bobby D of recent but if this is something that is still occuring and can be attributed to him then I was clearly wrong.

My god, if WSU had any kind of red zone offense today they’d be up by 2 or 3 touchdowns. Instead, they get a field goal, bad punt, and 2 turnovers. They’re methodically beating oregon in terms of total offense and time of possession.

Oregon looks like garbage. They do catch numerous breaks. The Beavers get Tuel and then he gets hurt and misses this game. Oregon not the least bit impressive though. If they face a healthy Tuel they’re losing this game.

What irritates me is Oregon always gets the breaks from the zebras. I never seen them called for pass interference, late hit personal fouls, holding. Almost a team makes a big play against them it is called back for a flag, when they make a play it is never called back even if there is a blatant hold. It is completely the opposite for the Beavers. They can never catch a break from the officials.

Also, how many times does Oregon catch a break when a kicker missing a chip shot. Today WSU’s kicker hadn’t missed all year and he misses a 25 yard FG? Their luck is extraordinary.

WSU just got a break on that pick 6 but that rarely happens against Oregon.

I am curious to see what our numbers are if you have them? I feel like we are getting hammered with calls this year. In particular, I was yelling and cussing at the TV against WSU. There were some really blatantly poor calls that game. Also, I wish we could quantify how many penalties our opponents get away with (e.g. the obvious false start by the TE of WSU on their 4th and 1 conversion).

I’ll look them up to in a bit. But aren’t we the most penalized team in the league? (Thanks Remmers!) So i have an idea what those numbers are going to be like

As for obvious non-calls, I don’t know how you’d quantify that. You’d need to watch all the games over again and look for non-calls on both sides. I can’t recall any non-calls that should have been against us, but that’s because I’m a Beaver fan.

Fuck, there’s like a blizzard her win Massachusetts and I’ll probably lose power soon. I signed up for text alerts from oregonlive so i can at least keep up with the scores. Anyone know any other free text alert places for Beav score/updates?

I’m disgraced by our showing. Vote with your checkbook this next year. When OSU representatives call for donations, refuse until the product on the field improves. As a donor to OSU for over 35 years I’m gonna take a pause this next year, and tell the rep to forward my refusal to BDC.

It looks like you want the better coach in all games…even if the other team doesn’t have a D1 QB. My bad. I’m embarrassed by this pick and take. Ironically, I had my best week all year in my pick ’em league, getting 9 of 10. Strange.